Pakistan floods: flood stirs anger at government as death toll hits 1,200

The death toll from Pakistan's worst floods in decades climbed above 1,200 as
rescuers struggled to help the two million people who have been forced to
flee from their homes in the country's north-west.

Residents have railed against the government for failing to provide enough emergency assistance nearly a week after heavy monsoon rains triggered raging floodwaters in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province.

Widespread anger poses a serious threat to the already struggling government, which is now competing with Islamist movements to deliver aid to the north-western Pakistani region which already has a strong Taliban presence

Cases of cholera and diarrhoea have been reported among those left homeless by the floods, which have left tens of thousands without access to shelter or clean water.

While the Pakistan army is helping with the rescue effort, the US has pledged £6.4m in aid. Some supplies were able to reach the worst-affected parts of the country when roads briefly reopened, allowing some people to flee the chaos.

Nearly two million people have been affected by flash floods and landslides brought on by monsoon rain in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, officials said.

In Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, an aerial survey showed dozens of villages had been simply washed away.

"The level of devastation is so widespread, so large, it is quite possible that in many areas there are damages, there are deaths which may not have been reported," army spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said.

"Virtually no bridge has been left in Swat. All major and minor bridges have gone, destroyed completely," Maj-Gen Abbas said of the valley which has borne the brunt of the floods.

The disastrous flooding comes at a time when the weak and unpopular Pakistani government is already struggling to cope with a faltering economy and a brutal war against Taliban militants that has killed thousands of people in the past few years.